Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/127

 January 9. Weather more moderate, and set to’- gallant sails.

January 10. By observation found our latitude to be 61°. This day we made the first iceberg. We sailed close to it and found it to be a mile long and one hundred and fifty feet out of the water. It was much worn by the action of the sea and by frequent storms, and  resembled the ruins of some Gothic church or ancient  castle. A second berg was met some thirty miles and a

THE FIRST ICEBERGS.

third some fifty miles south of the first. After these we passed many of various sizes and shapes, some inclined  to the horizon, others square with flat tops.

January 11. Wind from the nor’west, with a light mist. As the icebergs increased in numbers the sea became smooth and we were often compelled to change our course to steer clear of them.

January 12. This morning entered a deep bay. At six o’clock in the afternoon we had reached its extreme  limits and found that our further progress was checked